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Devine v. Washington Dep't of Social and Health Services11/22/2005
Lauraine B. Devine appeals the trial court's order granting summary judgment to the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), arguing that genuine issues of material fact remain in her wrongful discharge action. We affirm.
Facts
In July 1997, Devine began working as a temporary Social Worker I for DSHS. After she received a probationary appointment to a Social Worker III position, Devine's duties included investigating cases of child abuse, neglect, and molestation; preparing dependency petitions and court presentations; providing case work services to children and families; providing short-term placement of children with foster care or relatives; and referring children and parents to appropriate service programs and agencies.
By April 1998, Devine's supervisor, Tom Stokes, began to notice problems with her performance. During her employment at DSHS, Devine missed personal contacts with four foster children on her caseload; failed to properly prepare, file, and serve dependency petitions; missed or arrived late to court hearings; presented poor testimony in court hearings; made placement decisions without authorization; inappropriately threatened to call the police when a parent declined to allow Devine entry into her home; failed to serve an Indian tribe with notice of proceedings as required by the Indian Child Welfare Act; failed to notify an assistant attorney general that she knew the location of a runaway foster child; and failed to notify an assistant attorney general that a child had been placed in shelter care until the child had been in DSHS custody for nearly two months without a court order.
Stokes discussed some of these problems with Devine in the fall of 1998, and on December 18 he followed up with a written memorandum that outlined areas of continuing concern. The memorandum stated that Devine's caseload had been reduced so that she could better learn her responsibilities and added that further problems might jeopardize her employment. After a subsequent evaluation identified persistent problems with Devine's job performance, Stokes decided not to recommend her for permanent employment. In lieu of termination, he agreed to let Devine resign, to forego placing her probationary evaluation in her personnel file, and to provide her with a letter of recommendation. Devine submitted a letter of resignation effective February 26, 1999.
In December 1999, Catholic Community Services (CCS) hired Devine as a care coordinator. In June 2000, Devine's CCS supervisor issued a corrective action memorandum to Devine that reflected the following performance problems: allowing a non-CCS employee to have contact with CCS clients; releasing a CCS client's confidential records without authorization; failing to inform CCS supervisors about the aforementioned incidents; and failing to work effectively with DSHS employees. The memorandum stated that further misconduct would result in her termination. Devine refused to sign the memorandum and resigned, even though her supervisors urged her to stay.
On March 1, 2002, she sued DSHS and CCS for wrongful termination, intentional interference with a business expectancy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After Devine voluntarily dismissed CCS from the lawsuit, DSHS successfully moved for summary judgment. Devine now appeals the dismissal of her claims against DSHS.
Analysis
When reviewing a summary judgment order, this court engages in the same inquiry as the trial court. Marshall v. Bally's Pacwest, Inc., 94 Wn. App. 372, 377, 972 P.2d 475 (1999) (citing Wilson v. Steinbach, 98 Wn.2d 434, 437, 656 P.2d 1030 (1982)). A summary judgment motion c
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